


we could live a million dreams, but only if we dare

by BroadwayBaggins



Category: Little Women (2019), Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: Distraction Kiss, F/M, Flowers, Kiss to hide from bad guys, dares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:22:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23839816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BroadwayBaggins/pseuds/BroadwayBaggins
Summary: Laurie has a dare for Jo--a dare which quickly goes awry
Relationships: Theodore Laurence/Josephine March
Comments: 8
Kudos: 144





	we could live a million dreams, but only if we dare

It had been Laurie’s idea, but if you had asked him, he would have insisted that it was Jo’s.

They had been on one of their long, rambling walks, talking about dreams for the future--their “castles in the air”--while happily gathering wildflowers to make a bouquet to cheer up Beth. Laurie had been Jo’s scout, scouring the horizon for the best blooms that he knew would make Beth smile. They had whiled away most of the afternoon like this, and before they knew it they were miles from home, almost on the other side of town, and Laurie had dared Jo to climb the trellis of the grand house before them and pick the beautiful purple flower that was growing there.

“Teddy, don’t be silly! That’s not a wildflower, it belongs to someone!”

“This house has been abandoned for months, since the Justers moved back to Boston. It’s only just recently been rented. Anyway, look at that ivy all around it, how wild and tangled it is. It’s as much of a weed as any of the other flowers we picked, no one will miss it.”

Jo wasn’t convinced. “Why don’t I just knock on the door and ask whoever lives here if we may have it?” she asked. “Seems a great deal less dangerous.”

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s home. Plus, it’s much more of an adventure if you climb it. Think of the story we’ll have to tell Beth later!”

“I don’t know, Laurie,” Jo said, looking up at the facade of the house. It was much more austere than the Laurence’s house, even more unfriendly than Plumfield, and Jo knew nothing about the house or its occupants. Surely this was a bad idea. “Perhaps we should just go home. The bouquet is lovely enough as it is. Beth will adore it.”

“All right...if you’re scared, you don’t have to.”

His words lit a fire in Jo, as he had known they would. Curse him, for knowing her so well. “Say that again,” she warned, taking a step closer to him.

“I said if you’re scared, we can just go home. But the Jo I know doesn’t say no to an adventure, no matter what.”

“Hold these,” Jo demanded, shoving her bundle of flowers into Laurie’s chest. He scrambled to keep from dropping them, and Jo took the opportunity to steal his hat for good measure. She tucked her thick braid up inside it, so it wouldn’t get in her way as she climbed.

“Excellent idea. Every cat burglar needs a good disguise,” Laurie said admiringly. He had the good sense to avert his eyes as Jo hiked up her skirts, folding and tucking and fashioning them into a kind of billowing set of bloomers for ease of climbing. 

“Last chance to change your mind,” she told Laurie conversationally. “You can still talk me out of it!”

“Have at it, Master Thief Jo!”

Jo set her hands on the trellis and gave it an experimental shake. The wood was slightly old and rickety, but it held firm in her hands, and only creaked a little when she hoisted herself up and set both feet upon it. The entire thing did not crumble under her weight, so she began her ascent with Laurie calling out encouragement from below.

It wasn’t so bad, really, once one got used to it. Not entirely different from climbing a ladder, Jo supposed. There was one moment when her foot slipped and she had bit back a cry of fear, convinced she was about to come tumbling down and crush poor Laurie. But she had managed to find her footing, and continued her climb, until she held that prized purple flower in her hand and pulled it, gently, from its stem.

“Got it!” she crowed triumphantly, and Laurie responded with a cheer of his own. 

“That’s my girl! Come on down now.”

Not wanting to climb down one handed, Jo carefully tucked the stem of the flower down her vest for safekeeping. But as she started to climb down, the entire trellis creaked ominously at the shift in weight. Her heart leapt into her throat as she went to put her foot down and felt the wood give way beneath her, breaking off with a crack like a gunshot. 

“Jo!”

Jo hung there motionless, one foot on one of the rungs of the trellis and the other dangling helplessly in the air. Her heart hammered in her chest as she tried to find another foothold.

“Who’s there?”

The sound of another voice, and not a friendly one at that, made Jo forget all about her safety. The voice was followed by a small chorus of barking dogs, and a crash. She scrambled down the rest of the trellis, jumping down the last four feet or so and jarring both ankles painfully. “Run!” she cried out, grabbing Laurie’s hand and pulling him along. “Run, Teddy, run!”

Laurie needed no convincing. Together they raced away from the house, Beth’s flowers long forgotten as they slipped from Laurie’s hand in his haste. Laurie’s hat tumbled off Jo’s head and landed who knows where. Jo heard crashing behind them, but she wasn’t sure if it was the man, the dogs, or just Laurie struggling to keep up with her. She tugged him along, not giving him a moment to catch his breath as they neared town, not caring what people would say if they were to look up and see the March girl and the Laurence boy running through the streets as if the hounds of hell themselves were after them.

They didn’t stop until they had reached town, and Jo pulled them to the side of a building to catch their breath. “Did we lose them?” she asked, panting. She could still hear the barking dogs, but they sounded more faint now, farther away. 

“I think so.”

“That was the most mad thing I’ve ever done in my life, Teddy. Never make me do something like that again.”

“I won’t,” Laurie promised, resting his forehead against the cool red brick of the building. He gulped for air and looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of their pursuer. “Where’s the flower?”

“I lost it. It was all for nothing.”

“Uh oh.”

“What is it?”

“Someone’s coming, and he doesn’t look too happy.”

“What do we do?” Jo asked, but instead of answering her, Laurie grabbed hold of her face and brought his lips to hers in a kiss that swallowed up any other questions Jo could have asked.

His body shielded hers from view, should anyone walk by. Both of their faces were in shadow, and Laurie pressed himself against her in an effort to hide the flyaway look of their clothes and hair, the redness of their cheeks after their flight. His lips were pillow-soft against Jo’s, tasting faintly of salt--sweat, she supposed--and mint. Jo didn’t hesitate for more than a moment before she was kissing him back, pulling him closer, if only to shield them from detection for a few seconds longer. For a moment, it was like she was playing a role in one of her theatricals--a pirate queen perhaps, on the run from the captain of a rival ship and kissing her first mate as a diversion; or perhaps a pair of knights on the run from their shared enemies--only it was better than one of her silly scribblings, because it was _real,_ danger or not--

It was Laurie who pulled away first, resting his forehead against hers as she opened her eyes. His face was blurred before her, but he was still her Laurie, her Teddy, sharing in their most madcap adventure yet.

“Do you think we lost him?” she whispered.

“I hope so. I’ve run out of ideas.” Laurie’s eyes sparkled, his hand still cupping Jo’s cheek. “But I suppose I could always kiss you again.”

Jo moved away from him then, pressing her body against the brick wall as she looked up and down the street. No sign of the angry stranger whose property they had trespassed on. The coast, it seemed, was clear.

They were quiet on the way home, a thousand things unspoken between them. When they arrived at the March house and presented Beth with a single perfect daisy they’d found along the road on the way back, she exclaimed at how beautiful it was and quickly went to put it in water. “What else did you two do today?” she asked, taking in their disheveled appearance, the twigs in Laurie’s dark curls, the way Jo’s hair was half-spilled from it’s braid and her skirts were still twisted terribly.

Jo and Laurie exchanged a glance. “Nothing,” they answered together.

**Author's Note:**

> I was prompted on tumblr with "a kiss to hide from bad guys", with any Little Women couple, so this is what I came up with! I'm not sure if I've kept Jo and Laurie in character here as much as I should--this is wild behavior even for them--but it was super fun to write so I hope you'll forgive me any super OOC behavior. Maybe they're both just feeling more reckless than usual? Either way, I hope that you like it!
> 
> (I've invented a new grand mansion on the outskirts of Concord because I didn't want Jo and Laurie to steal from Aunt March or from the Moffats!)
> 
> Title comes from "Take a Chance on Me" from Little Women: The Musical--Laurie's song to Jo.


End file.
